Believe it or not, My Shame is True is the first traditional album from Alkaline Trio in three years. It doesn’t feel like three years for a number of reasons. First and foremost it’s because the band’s last two albums, This Addiction and Agony & Irony both had terrific shelf lives. Both of those albums still hold up today. Theres also Matt Skiba’s side project Matt Skiba and the Sekrets and the band releasing an acoustic set a couple of years ago called Damnesia. Alkaline Trio have managed to stay relevant while not tiring the audience with too much material. It’s a great accomplishment, almost as great as Alkaline Trio putting out three consecutive stellar albums.

My Shame Is True is a very good record just like the group’s last two albums, but the group’s new album is a completely different set of music. It’s more rooted in rockabilly punk than the band’s last two albums. There really aren’t a lot of melodic rock songs like the band established on Agony & Irony. And there’s little to no programing on the new album like they did on This Addiction. My Shame Is True holds itself firmly in the middle-of-the-road punk/rockabilly mode and it’s a better album for it. The other notable with the new album is that it’s not really an introspective album. Songs like “She Lied to the FBI” and “The Torture Doctor” hold into the shame theme that the band is going for, but obviously they don’t tie in directly to personal experiences for the band.

My Shame is True is another solid album from Alkaline Trio and it’s a different record than what they’ve made before. That’s what the band wants and that’s what most of the fans will appreciate too. As a band, staying fresh but true to the people who appreciate your music is as good as it gets.

Believe it or not, My Shame is True is the first traditional album from Alkaline Trio in three years. It doesn’t feel like three years for a number of reasons. First and foremost it’s because the band’s last two albums, This Addiction and Agony & Irony both had terrific shelf lives. Both of those albums still hold up today. Theres also Matt Skiba’s side project Matt Skiba and the Sekrets and the band releasing an acoustic set a couple of years ago called Damnesia. Alkaline Trio have managed to stay relevant while not tiring the audience with too much material. It’s a great accomplishment, almost as great as Alkaline Trio putting out three consecutive stellar albums.

My Shame Is True is a very good record just like the group’s last two albums, but the group’s new album is a completely different set of music. It’s more rooted in rockabilly punk than the band’s last two albums. There really aren’t a lot of melodic rock songs like the band established on Agony & Irony. And there’s little to no programing on the new album like they did on This Addiction. My Shame Is True holds itself firmly in the middle-of-the-road punk/rockabilly mode and it’s a better album for it. The other notable with the new album is that it’s not really an introspective album. Songs like “She Lied to the FBI” and “The Torture Doctor” hold into the shame theme that the band is going for, but obviously they don’t tie in directly to personal experiences for the band.

My Shame is True is another solid album from Alkaline Trio and it’s a different record than what they’ve made before. That’s what the band wants and that’s what most of the fans will appreciate too. As a band, staying fresh but true to the people who appreciate your music is as good as it gets.